Earthquake Damage
The Town Hall is currently closed as a result of significant damage caused by the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake from liquefaction and the related lateral spreading of the ground towards the Avon River. In June 2011, a damage assessment of the building was underway to determine the extent of the damage. In October 2012, a staff report recommended that only the main auditorium be saved, with the rest of the building to be demolished.
On November 22, 2012, Christchurch councillors voted unanimously to rebuild it at a cost of $127.5 million, only $68.9 million of which would be covered by insurance. Earthquake Minister Gerry Brownlee could still however veto the plan.
Read more about this topic: Christchurch Town Hall
Famous quotes containing the words earthquake and/or damage:
“Through the din and desultoriness of noon, even in the most Oriental city, is seen the fresh and primitive and savage nature, in which Scythians and Ethiopians and Indians dwell. What is echo, what are light and shade, day and night, ocean and stars, earthquake and eclipse, there? The works of man are everywhere swallowed up in the immensity of nature. The AEgean Sea is but Lake Huron still to the Indian.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If every man possessed everything he wanted, and no one had the power to interfere with such possession; or if no man desired that which could damage his fellow-man, justice would have no part to play in the universe.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)